Thargoid Sensor
''Disclaimer: The information contained in this article are the combined work of several Commanders in good faith and by no means represent the full pool of knowledge around these fascinating items. You are advised not to take any of this information as fact, because it is after all, a wiki. It should also be noted that if you find anything that you know to be inaccurate or a misrepresentation, or you have extra knowledge to add, then you should do so because, after all, its a wiki. However, this is not the place for conjecture or personal opinions, please use the forum for that.'' In game description UA Features The Unknown Artefacts (UA) have been reported to look like a form of sentient life, far beyond what we humans are capable of creating. It is still unknown what the UA is meant for, some people are speculating that this is the work of Thargoids, and there have been lots of other theories. To date, none of these theories have been proven, it is 'exceedingly rare' and only a few pilots have been able to see one themselves, making it extremely challenging to carry out tests and theories. However, the following aspects have been tested and are known: *From a distance away it makes a loud whale like sound with some muttering and can be spotted by some sparkling and some purple/green gas-like colours. *It seems to be made of three parts, the head (it looks like a giant egg with an place at the top where it seems like it can open up but some parts glow when the whale noise happens), the stork or spine (it seems to have four parts to it and lights up too to the whale noise), the pods or capsules (there are twelve of these). *When close to it you can clearly see it giving off a distortion field of some kind which has sparks appearing and disappearing in it with a gas in the entire area, either green or purple. However in the debug camera you can get close enough to the point where the field and everything aren't in the way and you can get a clear view of the UA. *You can hear the sounds it gives off best when closest as you can hear a whale noise, followed by chittering and purring. *While inside your ship's cargo hold the UA acts like Toxic Waste by doing corrosion damage to ALL your ship modules. *They are illegal salvage, so if you have it in your ship and a NPC System Authority scans you, you get a fine of 55,000cr *They can be sold for around 250k cr. *The UA 'Spores' or 'glitter' don't appear to do any damage * Occasionally they 'explode' sending a cloud of particulates out around them. Extremely slowed down video reveals a strange graphical glitch when this happens (or a tear in the space time continuum) * Having a refinery fitted with a UA in the hold does nothing * No new missions or contacts appear with one in the hold * They are quite delicate and behave similarly to normal cannisters in some ways ** They degrade over time in space (while ejected) and have a life of about 5 minutes max outside the ship, but reset to 100% health when back inside the cargo hold. ** Like toxic waste, they degrade ship's modules over time randomly while in the hold Finding them These Unknown Artefacts can be found in Strong Signal Sources. Timocani and 109 Virginis are the only two systems confirmed to spawn them, but Michael Brookes has stated that they are 'exceedingly rare' and that they are only available in certain regions of the galaxy, which would suggest that they are in other systems too. Since v1.3 no new UA discoveries have been reported. CMDR Wishblend, one of the original UA finders, gives this advice: There are at least two known Strong Signal Source instances that contain UA's. The first kind is made up of numerous ships and includes a Vulture, two Anacondas, the Type-9 and other ships. If you get this one, bear in mind that the Type-9 will probably charge its FSD and jump out of the system on its own. You can either choose to follow it (using a wake scanner) or attack it. The second is made up of four anacondas and the Type-9. This convoy will stop in space and the Anacondas will do a dance around the Type-9. It may be the case that the Type-9 is not a part of the Anaconda wing. It has been reported as the one where the Unknown Artefact will eat its way out of the Type-9's cargo hold without you firing a shot, but this has yet to be corroborated by other commanders. Systems where they have been found or spotted * Timocani (confirmed) * 109 Virginis (confirmed) * Chamunda (unconfirmed) * Geawenki (unconfirmed) * Delphin (unconfirmed) * Siren (unconfirmed) The mystery of the Unknown Artefact There is apparently some kind of mystery to be solved around these items, and certain people close to Frontier Developments have said that there are clues in the game, but nobody has spotted them yet. They even went as far to say that they are so obvious that to give any more clues would make it too easy. Despite this, no one has solved the mystery to date. During the period after the first find, some commanders created GalNet content related to the UA which was published, and these are included below but marked with submitted. Timeline of possible clues 10 February: Soontill Alien Artefacts are mentioned in GalNet.https://community.elitedangerous.com/galnet/10-FEB-3301 Subsequently confirmed by FD that these Artefacts are not Unknown Artefacts. 10 March: v1.2 is released. Includes "- Adding valuable salvage convoys to three permitted systems: LFT 509, Isinor, Witch's Reach" 13 March: The UA appeared for the first time as cargo on board the ship in the official 1.2 Wings trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23GEX4pYL9w 28 April: Arcannon innocently asks a simple question and starts the longest thread in Elite Dangerous Forums' history https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?p=2160913#post2160913 (now closed) which reached almost 10k posts and has had to be redirected to a new thread https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=162998 28 April: Michael Brookes comes into the forum thread and says "Have you listened to them?" 29 April: MB confirms later in the same thread that Soontill Relics are not the same thing as UA's, and that UAs cannot be bought 30 April: Strange parasite that attaches to a nervous system is reported in GalNet, but seems to have been subsequently removed https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=141038&p=2176849&viewfull=1#post2176849 30 April: YouTube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bAKBADBzC8&feature=youtu.be posted by a user who had recently posted another UA hoax, so nobody believed it. See 'The boy who cried wolf'.https://www.storyarts.org/library/aesops/stories/boy.html 02 May: MB says that they are "exceedingly rare sic and can only be found within a certain region of space - that does include multiple systems though." and then later clarifies that they can only be found in "certain regions in the galaxy" 02 May: Senator Kahina Tijani Loren’s Imperial Courier undergoes significant refit https://community.elitedangerous.com/galnet/02-MAY-3301 02 May: Minos https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=141038&p=2181189&viewfull=1#post2181189 discovers an entry in the Elite Dangerous Pilots Guide: "3276 - A strange object of unknown origin is discovered in the vicinity of Liazeda (-12,3). Named the LRA (Liazeda RadioAnomoly), the Alliance research ship, the Lion, is sent toinvestigate. The LRA and the ship disappears and its fate is still unknown in 3296. Only a handful of crew, who were deploying probes from two Explorer-class vessels return." 04 May: Wishblend finds the first UA in 109 Virginis,https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=141038&p=2187286&viewfull=1#post2187286 but unfortunately doesn't get it. Henceforth officially celebrated as UA Day across the galaxy, and the official title of UA Seeker was born. That afternoon, a further number were spotted but RedWizzard finally managed to actually grab one in Timocani.https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=141038&p=2187567&viewfull=1#post2187567 Due to a bug a couple more were accidentally duplicated (bug reported). They were spawning a lot that day, for sure. 04 May: Submitted GalNet reports baffled 'scientists' (players involved in the search and recovery UAs) having found an Unknown Artefact.https://community.elitedangerous.com/galnet/04-MAY-3301 06 May: President Halsey's tour of the frontier announced https://community.elitedangerous.com/galnet/06-MAY-3301 07 May: Submitted 'Dr' Arcanonn challenges Halsey about UAs https://community.elitedangerous.com/galnet/07-MAY-3301 13 May: President Halsey sets off from Sol https://community.elitedangerous.com/galnet/13-MAY-3301 15 May: 78 Ursae Majoris prepares for Halsey's visit https://community.elitedangerous.com/galnet/15-MAY-3301 17 May: Kahina Tijani has a custom built 'Gutamaya Discovery Scanner' fitted to her ship https://community.elitedangerous.com/galnet/17-MAY-3301 17 May: Submitted 'Dr' Arcanonn accuses Federation a cover-up about the UAs 18 May: Subsequent report on Soontill Relics in GalNet https://community.elitedangerous.com/galnet/18-MAY-3301 20 May: Submitted Tonnes of Biowaste dropped at 78 Ursae Majoris in protest against Federal cover-up of the UA, Dr Arcanonn denies links with the action https://community.elitedangerous.com/galnet/20-MAY-3301 23 May: Submitted A weird message is broadcast from someone somewhere trying to say something negative about the 'scientists' efforts https://community.elitedangerous.com/galnet/23-MAY-3301 26 May: Halsey's Starship One goes missing, official initial report, Felicia Winters steps up as interim president https://community.elitedangerous.com/galnet/26-MAY-3301 27 May: Secondary report on what happened to SSOne https://community.elitedangerous.com/galnet/27-MAY-3301 28/29 May: Conspiracy theories abound https://community.elitedangerous.com/galnet/28-MAY-3301 02 June: Hudson becomes president https://community.elitedangerous.com/galnet/02-JUN-3301 05 June: Strange cannisters called Sap 8 Core Container appears in the game with launch of v1.3. No evidence that these are linked to UAs so far 22 June: Mahddogg publishes his panel discussion about Powerplay,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYWolEEM_e0 in which CMDR Kerrash mentions that "about the whole UA thing, there is something behind that, but no one has figured it out yet" (29m 30s) and that "Frontier have put some really obvious clues in there and we don't want to put anything else in" for fear of spoiling what is come in the future. Theories proposed * The Sound (When MB said "Have you listened to them", this was taken as a most significant clue') ** The UAs do indeed make an unusual sound. Lots of players have attempted audio decryption using many different techniques and tools. So far nothing has been categorically proven. ** The UAs do sound very similar to the in-ship basic discovery scanner, along with some other strange noises that could be similar to galactic noises heard in the galactic map or in space. ** The sound changed noticeably from v1.2 to v1.3. Similar but different. Tests ongoing. * The Formadine Rift ** In Drew Wagar's book "Elite: Reclamation"https://fantasticbooksstore.com/store/paperback/elite-reclamation-pb/ one of the characters mentions a hard-to-reach place in the galaxy called the Formadine Rift, where there is something 'worse than the Thargoids'. In true sci-fi thriller/horror tradition, dozens of players immediately went in search of what that might be.https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=135529 Drew was quite active in the forum thread and a connection was suggested that this might have something to do with the UA mystery, but any connection still remains unproven. * Thargoids ** Many people think that the UA is of Thargoid origin. The only evidence for this is that it looks quite alien. ** There is a theory that it is some form of Thargoid revenge for the Mycoid Virus,http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/INRA sent to kill all the humans. Suggestions were made of links to the HeBo virus outbreak. ** There was a suggestion that it was a Thargoid Escape Pod. ** There was an idea that it looks like an egg/seeding pod, the beginning of a invasion. * Advanced Scanner device ** The sounds the UA makes are very similar to those made by the basic discovery scanner, and recent theories claim that the UA produces a 'stylised Morse code' of the name of the closest celestial body. Tests are ongoing to prove or disprove this theory.https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=162998&p=2500146&viewfull=1#post2500146 * A Special System Permit ** There are systems in game which require an 'unknown permit'. So far, no access has been granted to anyone carrying a UA in their hold to one of these systems. * Advanced Frameshift Drive ** There is lore involving a Thargoid Hyperspace Drive and some suspect that it might be one of these. There hasn't been any evidence that it can be fitted to a ship in the normal way. * A Compass ** The theory that the UA points either where it came from or where it wants to go has been disproven. When ejected they point in no particular direction Tests done * Audio recordings have (mostly) been done in 'debug camera' mode, so as to eliminate ship sounds and with systems disabled (including life support) * Tests are usually performed with two pilots present. * Tests are done in normal space. * Tests with the UA next to other items are tested both in normal space and in cargo holds. * Location tests are done both in the cargo hold and in normal space if possible. * In the case of Polaris, having a UA in your hold will not allow you to make the jump in-system. * They have been allowed to 'expire' in space * They have been ejected inside a station * They have been ejected into a Outpost (accidentally) * They do not degrade the ship while docked * Tried to see if they can be put in a module slot in Outfitting. They can't. Pinged with various devices * Normal Ship Sensors = Nothing * Ship Lights = Nothing * Frameshift wake scanner = Nothing * Cargo scanner = Nothing * Kill warrant scanner = Nothing * Discovery Scanner = Nothing https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=141038&p=2188219&viewfull=1#post2188219 * Detailed Surface Scanner = Nothing * Shooting = Nothing * ECM = Nothing Ejected and observed / listened to next to other items and places * Hafnium = Nothing * AI relic = Nothing * Soontill Relic = Nothing * Ancient Artefact = Nothing * Painite = Nothing * NAV beacon (250 meters) = Nothing * Leonard Nimoy station = Nothing * Earth = Nothing * Black Hole = Nothing * Sol = Nothing * HE BO = Nothing * Peregrina = Nothing * Polaris = Nothing * Toxic waste = Nothing * Sap 8 Core Containers = Colour of the emissions change? * Alien Artefacts = Nothing * Close to Ammonia Planets = Nothing * Dropped near various stars = Nothing * Another Unknown Artefact = Nothing https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=141038&p=2474851&viewfull=1#post2474851 Places where they have not been taken - feel free to try! * Sagitarius A (The Galactic Centre) ** As the UA degrades modules quite rapidly, it would a challenging task to take it anywhere of great distance, even with a wing and plenty of Auto Field Maintenance Units. * Polaris ** For the same reason as above, with the additional challenge that its a permit protected system. (Note that a UA has been taken to the nearest system to Polaris in 1.2 without any observable differences). * Raxxla ** Because nobody knows where it is. Except the Thargoids. Who has a UA? Currently it appears that only two people have a UA, first is Ratking15 and the second is Wishblend Ratking15 have streamed several times the UA on his twitch stream before attempting to upload them to Youtube, you can find his highlights of the streams (which are all of the stream mostly) on his channel with sound which is at:http://www.twitch.tv/ratking15 (it should be noted though that he does stream other games) Like Ratking15, Wishblend also has streamed several times with UA tests as well as causal gameplay though more often than Ratking15 who would rather not risk losing his UA when it might still be required. Wishblend's streams are usually just ingame sounds as she prefers this, you can find her previous streams and highlights here: http://www.twitch.tv/wishblend/profile References Category:Commodities